June 2001 was the first time I went away from home and try operating in the
ARRL Field Day, on 23-24 June. I had operated in the past with groups
away from home, and in June 2000 I operated for a few hours from home.
This year, with a Yaesu
FT-817 transceiver that would run on batteries I figured I could assemble a
small station that could go away from home where I could operate for a few
hours. In addition, since it was very warm at home, I wanted to go
someplace that would be an escape from the desert heat.
After some thought, I decided I wanted to head to the mountains of northern
Arizona. Flagstaff,
about 150 miles (250km) from home and at 7000 feet (2133m) elevation would be
an easy place to go and play radio. I chose the picnic area at
Fort
Tuthill Park, in front of the Coconino County Fairgrounds where the annual
Arizona State Convention ("Fort Tuthill
hamfest") was held in late July of each year. This location is a
2-hour drive from my house, and only a few miles/km south of downtown Flagstaff
and old Route 66, a nice place to escape the heat. I found a picnic table
just inside the entrance to the park, and decided to set up there.
My station in Flagstaff (Coconino County, Arizona - grid DM45dd)....
- Yaesu FT-817 portable HF/VHF/UHF transceiver, with
Maha internal 9.6V
1600mAh rechargeable battery pack and 12V 7Ah gel-cell battery (and many
lithium and alkaline AA cells on reserve)
- 40m wire dipole, strung between two trees, fed into an
MFJ-971
antenna tuner
- Kantronics
KAM98 TNC
- IBM ThinkPad i1411 (Pentium
300MMX processor, 128Mb RAM, 4.3Gb hard drive, with
Red Hat Linux 7.1),
with its internal 9.6V 3.5Ah rechargeable battery and 12V 7Ah gel-cell
battery
- MFJ MFJ-259B antenna analyzer
- Garmin GPS-12MAP
GPS receiver (used to determine my exact position and as my clock for logging
purposes)
Pre-Field Day preparations
I had estimated I could run my laptop on a gel-cell for 2 to 3 hours, plus
another 90 minutes to 2 hours on its own battery pack. I did not test
my FT-817 with a gel-cell, but figured it would work several hours on its
own gel-cell before having to use its internal battery pack - or the AA
cells. The KAM98 TNC could run for a long time on a simple alkaline
9-volt battery, so I was not worried about that. After all my estimates
and tests, the only variable I did not have an idea about would be the
conditions on the various bands I would operate. I did not have a lot
of power for my signal (only 5 watts), so I didn't try to make any targets
on the number of contacts I would make or how far I could reach with my small
station.
The night before I left for Flagstaff, I had to make a cable to connect my
FT-817 to the KAM98 in order to operate RTTY. The FT-817 has a separate
port on the back for data modes, using a PS/2 keyboard/mouse connector.
I cannibalized an old mouse for the cable with that connector, and wired it to
a DB-9 connector to connect to the KAM98's radio port. Once I did that,
I connected the KAM98 to my PC and put a 1/2-watt dummy load (50-ohm resistor)
on my FT-817 so I could see if it would transmit and receive RTTY
properly. It worked, and I packed everything I would need for the
day-trip.
Welcome to Field Day Saturday....
After a thunderstorm went through the Flagstaff area around midday (1900 UTC),
I went out to the park and unloaded my equipment. My first concern was to
get an antenna strung between a couple of trees. I did that, then I
connected the antenna to my tuner and set up my other equipment. Once
I did that, and after setting up my other equipment, I wanted to make a
contact using RTTY - my favorite operating mode. At 1.40pm (2040 UTC),
I made a contact with VE3XR in Ontario for my first 2001 Field Day contact on
the 15-meter band.
Once I made my first RTTY contact, I wanted to see if I could make more
contacts on that mode. I proceeded to make 5 more RTTY contacts on the
15-meter band, followed by 2 others on the 20-meter band, in the next hour or
so before I took a break from the keyboard to try some SSB operating.
Again, the 15-meter band worked very well for me. I stayed on
15-meter SSB for almost 90 minutes before going back to the keyboard and
trying for more RTTY contacts. This time, I was not as successful, only
making 2 RTTY contacts on the 15-meter band (and none on the 20-meter band)
in the next hour.
At this point, it was approaching 5.00pm (0000 UTC Sunday), and I knew that I
only had a couple of hours to continue operating before I would run out of
sunlight. I would try one more time for RTTY contacts, and after 30
minutes of jumping around several bands I decided to end my attempt to work
RTTY and focus on SSB. I made 3 SSB contacts on the 20-meter band, and
then went back up to the 15-meter band where I made 26 more contacts in the
next 2 hours. At 7.30pm (0230 UTC Sunday), I had 20 to 30 minutes of
daylight remaining. I ended my Field Day operating and packed up my
equipment. I had been sitting at the picnic table from the time I
finished setting up my equipment until this time - almost 6 hours!
When all my equipment was packed up and the site cleaned up, I drove into
Flagstaff for dinner before returning home later that evening.
My Field Day statistics...
- 15-meter RTTY contacts: 8
- 20-meter RTTY contacts: 2
- 15-meter SSB contacts: 34
- 20-meter SSB contacts: 3
All of these contacts were made with only 5 watts output from my radio, and
running on batteries, to qualify for the 5X power multiplier. The SSB
contacts would be worth 5 points each, and the RTTY contacts 10 points
each. Along with these points, I claimed 300 bonus points:
- 100 points, for operating on 100% emergency power (batteries)
- 100 points, for operating in a public location (the county park and
fairgrounds)
- 100 points, for copying the special ARRL Field Day bulletin transmitted
from its W1AW station in Connecticut (a printout of the bulletin was sent
with my entry to validate this bonus)
I claimed a total of 585 points, a vast improvement over the 92-point total
I accumulated from operating at home last year for only a couple of hours.
Considering I was not looking to meet or exceed any targets for numbers of
contacts, and wanted to see if I could have any success working RTTY at 5
watts, I am very happy with this result. I will not win any prizes, or
be on the medal stand with a top score - but that was not a goal I had set for
this weekend. I escaped the Phoenix-area heat (104F/40C that afternoon),
and enjoyed the cooler (75F/24C) Flagstaff weather for the afternoon and
evening.
Need a QSL card from WD9EWK for Field Day?
Just drop me an e-mail with your address and QSO
information. I will mail one to you. No SASE or stamp needed.
Looking back at the 6-hour effort....
I found out that the FT-817 is a rugged little radio. With the 500Hz
filter in use for RTTY operation and a good antenna, it will hear a lot.
Having only 5 watts output may hinder RTTY operation on most occasions, but
contests and events like Field Day encourage other operators to listen and
try a little harder to work the weaker signals - when those weaker signals
might be ignored normally. I wished the radio had the capability to
hold 2 filters, after hearing all the tightly-packed stations on 15-meter
and 20-meter SSB. I had to use the IF shift function to try and tune out
adjacent signals and concentrate on the one station I wanted to contact.
Even with all of this, I worked 24 US states, 2 Canadian provinces, and 32
ARRL/RAC sections in almost 6
hours. I know I could have done more if I did not spend so much time
chasing RTTY stations. When I would mention that I was only running 5
watts from my radio, I received many comments of "nice signal" and
"nice audio", and one station commented that my 5-watt signal broke
through a large pileup. If I ever get the PSK31 mode working on my
laptop or with an external modem or TNC, that would be perfect for the FT-817
with 5 watts. I worked very few stations in the USA Midwest and Canadian
prairie regions, but made up for that by working many stations up and down
both the east and west coasts. And I now have a logbook with entries
that can help me with my efforts next year, some raw data I did not have going
into this year's Field Day (which bands were cooperative with low power,
knowing I can run my laptop for about 5 to 6 hours between a gel-cell and its
pack, knowing my FT-817 will go at least 6 hours on a gel-cell before having
to use another power source, etc.).
Until next year........
WD9EWK/VA7EWK - ARRL Field Day - WD9EWK (in USA) - QSL VIA WD9EWK
